Friday 29 June 2012

Drowning in cash ....

This morning I crawled out of bed - made a cup of tea - and sat down to my morning ritual of checking emails, printing out postage labels for my parcels and checking Paypal for any miniscule amount I can transfer to my bank account.


Then I check my bank account.    A lovely number swims before my eyes, and I have to blink a few times to make sure I'm not dreaming.


The grand total in my account is just over $1000.


There hasn't been that much in my account for a few years.   
I dream of the wonderful things I can do with this money:


- pay the phone bill, the gas bill, the electricity bill, the internet bill
- buy my Dad's present for his birthday
- get my car its long over-due service
- go to the chiropractor for my back
- get a haircut by a hairdresser instead of hacking at it myself with scissors
- wrap my teeth around a real steak for the first time in years.
- replace my worn granny knickers with some new granny knickers   (oh the thrill !!)
- perhaps even *shock* - buy myself a BRAND NEW book or DVD!!!!


The possibilities are endless.    I feel a warm glow in my nether regions, about the delicious things I can do with this money.


Except for one thing.


IT IS NOT MINE.   It has been transferred to my account in error overnight.




You see, the lovely website where I attempt to sell my books Fishpond.com.au - has been fiddling with their website.    They've been having a really good poke around in there.   I sent a query to them only a couple of days ago querying why a couple of sales hadn't been applied to my account.


Now they've had a fiddle-fest and all the sales I've made from them in the past 3 years or so came up as not being paid.   I saw this yesterday evening and had a laugh.  At the top of the account it said that $925 would be paid to my bank account via bank transfer.    What a hoot!   Surely they wouldn't be silly enough to do that.


Apparently they are.   Apparently all those transfers are automated.   If the system say pay it - it gets paid.   Oh, their IT Department is going to be getting a thrashing.   I feel sorry for them.   Have they never heard of Beta Testing changes before they go live?
Oh well, I will just sit and look at this total in my account for a day and pretend it is mine - then tomorrow I will contact them if they haven't contacted me first.


Oh, my precious.  My precious!!!!
SLAP!!  <Ahem>.


Back to the real world.




My sales have been atrocious.   I'm talking a drop of two thirds in sales for 3 months that had me in tears almost daily.   So bad, I haven't been blogging because I all would do is moan about it, and that's not fun for you or for me. 


My friends on Ebay Underground had been talking about a "light being switched on."   I finally got to see that in action in my store last week.      In one day I had 10 sales - and it has still been pretty good.  Things I had gotten sick of looking at were suddenly bouncing out the red door.   Hurrah, I can finally pay some bills!!


Finally, here are some items I have sold worth mentioning:




This rare 1st edition book from 1918.     A previous copy on Ebay had sold for $40.    Mine sat for ages at that price, and then I decided I just needed some money to pay bills.  


Sold for:  $24.95

Bought for:  $1

I thought my new foray into kids clothing was going to save my bacon, but they suddenly stopped selling.   Then I got this sale of Bulk 27 x Girls Size 4 Clothing.  Hurrah!!  


Sold for:  $47.95 (less $11 fee for stupidity)

Bought for:   $7

Then I got home from the post office and looked at the photo, thinking "I don't remember packing those dresses?"    Oh crap, I'd forgotten to pack 3 dresses that were hanging up.    I grabbed them and hurried back to the post office.   Yay, they still had my parcel.   I did surgery on it and added the missing clothes.    I got slugged with $11 charge for the extra weight.   Oh well, at least I remembered before it got to the customer.




These diet books I've had for 8 months.  I was selling them separately, and then decided to put them in all together.   Glad to see them go.    


Sold for:  $15

Bought for:  Less than $1

These lovely embroidery magazines I've had for a while.  Then somebody came in and snaffled up 4 of them. 


Sold for:  $22 (4 magazines at $5.50 each)

Bought for : $2

This Maths Textbook - I've also had for a while.   The buyer wanted to pick it up.  At the front door she stared at the book and said "I hope it's the right one.  I'll let you know if there's any problems."


WHAAAAT??!!   You're supposed to check that before you buy the frickin book!   I haven't heard from her, so all is well.


Sold for :  $29.99

Bought for :   $1

This huge gorgeous book on roses was in Like New condition.   It's huge and weighs over 3.5 kgs.  I'm surprised it took 6 months to sell.   Somebody bought it, and I am posting it to a friend of the buyer for a gift.


Sold for:  $24.95

Bought for:  $1

Ah, the lovely Squatter Board Game.  My sister found me this when she was op-shopping.  Always a sure-fire seller if it is complete.  Considering part of the game is 180 tiny plastic sheep, this rarely happens!


Bought for:  $3.50

Sold for :  $24.95

This is my favourite sale.   These sold within a few hours.   I got 4 of these magazines for free from my local op-shop.    Woodworking books/magazines are always a sure-fire seller for me.


Sold for:    $22.00 (for 4 magazines @ 5.50 each).

Bought for :   FREE



I'm thinking of branching into magazines.  Does anybody have any magazines they can recommend as a good-seller either in singles or bulk lots?


For now, I'll sit and gaze at my illegal bank balance, and not think about spanking.


Whoops, too late....





1 comment:

  1. Gotta say that I love your posts. You are very funny!! I look forward to someday sitting down and reading them all!

    Thanks for the chuckle!

    Margaret @ Live Like No One Else

    ReplyDelete